{"id":389,"date":"2025-12-15T13:47:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T13:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wholesalemicro.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/15\/the-end-of-the-lunch-bowl-era\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T13:47:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T13:47:36","slug":"the-end-of-the-lunch-bowl-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholesalemicro.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/15\/the-end-of-the-lunch-bowl-era\/","title":{"rendered":"The end of the lunch bowl era"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Redd Brown, Dina Katgara, Bloomberg News<\/strong><\/p>\n

Americans are increasingly over the \u201cslop bowl.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chipotle, Sweetgreen and Cava \u2014 once stars of the restaurant industry \u2014 are struggling as diners tire of all those pick-your-own ingredients piled atop rice or greens. Instead, lunchgoers are choosing offerings with more texture, like sandwiches and tacos, that fill them up and often cost less.<\/p>\n

Even Steve Ells, the founder of Chipotle and the burrito bowl that rocketed the chain to lunchtime fame, has moved on. At a Manhattan location of his new concept Counter Service, there\u2019s a red neon sign depicting a lunch bowl with a slash through it. It\u2019s a bowl-free zone, reinforced by a website that proclaims \u201cwe love sandwiches\u201d and \u201canything, as long as it can go on bread.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve gone back to handheld,\u201d said Ells, who left Chipotle in 2020. That came more than 15 years after debuting a bowl in response to customers opening up their burritos and asking for a fork to eat the innards. The bowl quickly became the chain\u2019s top-selling menu item and spawned a boom that led to chains such as Cava and Sweetgreen.<\/p>\n

Ells said the shift to bowls in 2003 lifted the Chipotle experience and helped broaden its appeal by serving \u201csuper premium quality food in a form that didn\u2019t appear like fast food to folks.\u201d Now to stand out, he says Counter Service is \u201coffering sandwiches that are elevated in a lot of ways.\u201d (One of its sandwiches priced at nearly $16 features dry-rubbed pork loin, salsa verde and broccoli rabe.)<\/p>\n

Alejandro Paczka, a 28-year-old designer in New York, has cut back on his Chipotle lunch habit and turned to cheaper options, including Subway sandwiches. Some of the shift is for \u201cmoney reasons,\u201d but people are also just tired of \u201ceating slop\u201d \u2014 a reference to \u201cslop bowls,\u201d an increasingly popular description coined by critics.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a resistance to: \u201cI go to the office, and I eat slop\u201d Paczka said. \u201cKind of like cattle.\u201d<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., Sweetgreen Inc. and Cava Group Inc. slashed their financial targets, deepening stock declines. That included Chipotle saying revenue this year from established locations will fall at a low-single-digit percentage, which would be the second annual decrease since it went public nearly 20 years ago. (The only other drop came in 2016 during an E. coli outbreak.) The companies have combined to lose $48 billion in market value so far this year, a slump of about 50%.<\/p>\n

While the fortunes of these chains have fallen in the last six months, Michael Kaufman, a lecturer for Harvard Business School, says not to \u201ccount them out at all.\u201d They became successful by serving fresh food quickly, and that\u2019s what they should remind consumers of in marketing. Wall Street expects Chipotle to bounce back and increase sales from existing stores about 2% next year. Analysts on average project revenue by that measure in 2026 to grow at Cava, but at a slower pace than 2025, and to decline less than 1% at Sweetgreen.<\/p>\n

The chains\u2019 responses to this wipeout haven\u2019t impressed investors so far. In a nod to the bowl backlash, Sweetgreen will test a handheld menu item early next year. It\u2019s also talking about a better checkout experience and wanting to become a lifestyle brand.<\/p>\n

Chipotle is trying to make its dining rooms cleaner while offering more limited-time menu items to increase interest. Cava sees bringing a \u201cMediterranean way of life\u201d to restaurants with more greenery and softer seats as a way to boost customer visits.<\/p>\n

The companies do realize they have a pricing problem \u2014 one ignited by the highest food inflation in decades \u2014 and are attempting to convince customers that their higher cost meals are worth it. Sweetgreen has increased some protein portions by 25% to lift perceived value. It will also offer a $10 bowl for a limited time starting in December, according to a person familiar with the plans who couldn\u2019t speak publicly about them.<\/p>\n

Nikhil Kalamdani, a 36-year-old sales rep for a New Jersey tech consulting firm, used to love these chains, but rising prices turned him off and now he cooks more.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole idea of just choosing your own toppings and vegetables and everything was great because generally it was less than $10 per bowl,\u201d Kalamdani said of his experience before the pandemic. \u201cNow I\u2019m looking at $12 or $13. The psychology of something surpassing $10 isn\u2019t really appealing.\u201d<\/p>\n